In honor of their brand new 16″ Disney Princess Bear, and Disney Princess collection, Build-A-Bear Workshop has announced it will be conducting a special Princess Weekend this weekend, from Friday, January 11, 2013 through Sunday, January 13 at locations throughout North America.

Guests will be given the royal treatment with paper crowns and jewel stickers to decorate in their own special way. After a crowning and knighting ceremony, Guests will be able to create magical memories with the new Disney Princess Bear ($23), featuring a sparkling crown and paw depicting beloved Disney Princess characters and majestic crowns.

Although it had previously been shared with media at a prior event, Walt Disney World has just officially released this concept art of the interior of the Princess Fairytale Hall which will be in the space once consumed by Snow White’s Scary Adventures.

The new home for visiting royalty in the Magic Kingdom, Princess Fairytale Hall will feature walls of stone and stained glass windows, a spacious gallery adorned with portraits of Disney princesses and elegantly finished rooms where guests can meet Aurora, Cinderella and other princesses. Set to open in 2013, as part of the next phase of the New Fantasyland expansion after the opening on December 6, 2012, Princess Fairytale Hall will be located in the Castle Courtyard in the center of Fantasyland.

For a limited time only, iPad owners can purchase a copy of Disney Publishing’s Toy Story 2 and The Princess and the Frog Read-Along Apps for just $3.99 each, more than 50% off the original price. Plus each user that purchases one of the apps is entitled to one month free to Disney Digital Books, an online library of hundreds of Disney book classics and original titles featuring Disney’s most popular characters, a value alone of $8.95.

Hoping to broaden the Disney Princess demographic, the Princess & Me collection from Disney Consumer Products and JAKKS Pacific puts a brand new spin on the classic Disney Princess.

Aimed at girls ages 5 – 8, the Princess & Me dolls (Tiana, Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Rapunzel) measure a whopping 18″ in height and seek to engage the child into exploring a whole new world of play beyond the cardboard box. Their unique facial features as the classic Disney Princesses are re-imagined as how they might appear if they were tweens. Each retails for $49.99 and includes a booklet filled with Disney Princess fun facts and activities and the opportunity to register so the child receives a special letter on their birthday from their favorite Princess.

Disney Consumer Products offered an unprecedented event earlier today that had even the skies opening up and pouring tears of joy on the otherwise gloomy streets of New York City. The event, which had celebrities from television, film and theatre mingling with Disney royalty, had Princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas and Mulan officially welcome Tiana from The Princess and the Frog to the Disney Princess family.

After the purple carpet was cleared and the honored guests had made their way indoors to the ballroom, a horse-drawn carriage rolled down Madison Avenue, stopped directly in front of the Palace and Princess Tiana took to the purple carpet herself, escorted by a live jazz band and dozens of her adoring fans.

The event itself began with Anika Noni Rose who addressed the gathered group of families consisting mostly of little girls dressed as Disney princesses. Rose said that the first dream she ever recalls having as a child was that she would grow up to be the voice of a Disney character and how her dream came true. She spoke of Tiana and offered her own advice to the princess’ fans: meeting Prince Charming is a great thing, but they should never lose sight of their dreams and who they are.

We are partnering up with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment to offer our readers the opportunity to win their very own copy of The Princess and the Frog on Disney blu-ray and DVD combo pack including a DisneyFile digital copy, available to own March 16.

Two lucky winners chosen at random will be able to bring this new Disney animated classic featuring the first Disney princess in ten years and an Oscar-nominated soundtrack by Randy Newman.

Magic, music and romance are waiting around every corner of the legendary Big Easy as Disney’s newest princess sets out on an exciting adventure through a magical new world. Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) is a beautiful and hardworking young woman determined to fulfil her father’s dream of owning an elegant New Orleans supper club. When Naveen (Bruno Campos), a handsome prince arrives in town looking for romance, the evil Dr. Facilier (Keith David) hatches a nefarious plot and turns Naveen into a frog. A kiss from Tiana should return him to his true form, but in a hilarious twist on the classic story, she is instead transformed into a frog herself! The pair must travel into the heart of the mysterious Louisiana bayou with only a trumpet-playing alligator and a love-struck firefly as guides to find the priestess who can reverse the curse in order to find their “happily ever after.”

In celebration of the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases of The Princess and the Frog, Disney Movie Rewards is offering its members a free Disney Enchanted Call from Princess Tiana through March 28.

If you are not already a member of Disney Movie Rewards, now is the time to join. It’s completely free and offers many perks to its members throughout the year, the least of which being the ability to exchange reward points earned by simply purchasing most Walt Disney Home Entertainment Blu-ray and DVD releases for exclusive merchandise.

The nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards have been announced this morning and, once again, it’s up to the Disney/Pixar champion UP to bring home the gold (statuettes) for The Walt Disney Company.

For top prizes, UP is competing for both Best Animated Film as well as Best Motion Picture of the Year, in the newly expanded category. Other nominated categories include: Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for which Michael Giacchino has already received numerous awards and accolades for; Achievement in Sound Editing; and another top category for Original Screenplay.